The rapid development of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies promises to revolutionize the finance profession in the next 5 years, Eric Hansen, Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), and COO of BKD shared with FEI members at our kickoff meeting August 20.

The things that are happening in our profession are going to impact you as well. Eric says AI is driving seismic shifts in society…and these shifts will either lead to disruption or help encourage us to effectively disrupt. He used the example of Netflix vs Blockbuster…and how Blockbuster couldn?t see what was coming, and as a result the disruptor (Netflix) took off running into the future.

We think it?s not going to happen…but it’s already happening. He says we need to be more intentional about being disruptive rather than allowing disruption to dictate. The challenge of being an effective disruptor is organizing the mass profession to make it happen together…to take charge of your future by transforming the way you see business, the way you build a successful business model. The goal is to make something transformative.

We all have to learn in order to move into the future well…whether that’s through technology, methodology, standards, or new skills…things will look a lot different than their defined look today. The question is, how do we define value in our field, in our work…and then how can we make that a reality?